Islands in the Stream (1977)

Director:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers:

Ernest Hemingway (story)
Denne Bart Petitclerc

Release Date:

2 August 1977 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An isolated sculptor is visited by his three sons just before the start of WWII. |

Plot Keywords:

Sculptor | Son | Seaplane | Beach | Jewish Refugee

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

George C. Scott	...	Thomas Hudson
David Hemmings	...	Eddy
Gilbert Roland	...	Captain Ralph
Hart Bochner	...	Tom
Susan Tyrrell	...	Lil
Richard Evans	...	Willy
Claire Bloom	...	Audrey
Julius Harris	...	Joseph
Brad Savage	...	Andrew
Michael-James Wixted	...	David
Hildy Brooks	...	Helga Ziegner
Jessica Rains	...	Andrea
Walter Friedel	...	Herr Ziegner
Charles Lampkin	...	Constable

Directed by
Franklin J. Schaffner

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ernest Hemingway		story
Denne Bart Petitclerc

Produced by
Peter Bart	....	producer
Max Palevsky	....	producer
Ken Wales	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
Fred J. Koenekamp

Film Editing by
Robert Swink

Casting by
Jane Feinberg
Mike Fenton

Production Design by
William J. Creber

Art Direction by
John Dapper

Set Decoration by
Raphael Bretton

Makeup Department
Del Acevedo	....	makeup artist
Lola 'Skip' McNalley	....	hair stylist
Rick Sharp	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Francisco Day	....	unit production manager
Lindsley Parsons Jr.	....	executive production manager: Paramount (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kurt Neumann	....	assistant director
Lorin Bennett Salob	....	second assistant director (as Lorin B. Salob)

Art Department
Donald L. Nobles	....	construction coordinator (as Don Nobles)
Ernie Sawyers	....	property master

Sound Department
Howard Beals	....	sound effects editor
C. Darin Knight	....	sound mixer (as Darin Knight)
John Wilkinson	....	sound re-recording mixer (as John K. Wilkinson)

Special Effects by
Kevin Pike	....	special effects assistant
Alex Weldon	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Thomas Laughridge	....	camera operator (as Tom Laughridge)
John Murray	....	key grip
Gene Stout	....	gaffer

Music Department
June Edgerton	....	music editor
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Marshall Schlom	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures
• Zeeuwse Maatschappij N.V.

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1977) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1980) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)

Other Companies

• Intrada  score album released by (Excalibur Collection)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | France:U | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video rating) (2005) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:PG | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Jerry Goldsmith repeatedly said this was his favorite score he composed.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the boat is slowly cruising up the river in Cuba looking for refugees, a crew member's hand can be seen moving tree branches away from the camera.

Quotes:

Andrew:I'm only asking me if you want me to stay so you wouldn't be lonesome.
Eddy:I've never been lonesome in my life, now. I'm just happy. What I've got here makes me happy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Legend of Dinosaurs (#1.21)" (1989)

"It is all true."

Islands in the Stream, Hemingway's posthumously published exercise in romanticised self-loathing about an ageing artist in self-imposed exile in the Bahamas in WW2 coming to terms with his failure as a husband and father and trying to make amends, reunited many of the key talents from Patton – director Franklin J. Schaffner, composer Jerry Goldsmith, cinematographer Fred Koenekamp and star George C. Scott – to almost universal audience indifference, but it's a surprisingly solid and engrossing film that gradually works its way under your skin. The kind of personal project that somehow usually heralds the end of a director's major works and the beginning of his descent into lucrative journeyman work when it fails to find an audience, it does build up a surprising degree of emotional power in the last third. Scott reins it in to good effect here: the scene where he realises the true reason for his ex-wife's visit overcomes the atrocious writing to deliver real suppressed emotional power, while his scene on the beach with Julius Harris where he knows he needs to move on but cannot bring himself to do it is genuinely touching. Aided by a well-cast David Hemmings as his rummy mate and a superb score by Jerry Goldsmith (the composer's favourite) that builds on the sea theme from Papillon and works much better on screen than on CD, it's well worth checking out, although be warned that in the marlin fishing sequence there is one bit of back projection so staggeringly bad you cannot understand why it was allowed to remain in the picture!